Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

This book follows two sisters as their lives change through tragedy and the decline of the world as we know it. Have I mentioned before I’m an apocalypse junkie? This book is a fairly easy read. It isn’t split into traditional chapters but flows more as a diary. I think the author did a great job of building the relationship between the sisters; allowing them to be separate people while tying them with an inseparable bond. The challenges faced are both common and uncommon for a book with apocalyptic undertones. Their demise of civilization is more of the slow, solitary, isolated kind. I really enjoyed the descriptions of saving and keeping and finding it hard to let go as everything dwindles and eventually runs out. I enjoyed where the author was leading the book, as the material things we come to depend on seem less and less important. However, I wasn’t totally convinced or in love with the ending. It wasn’t horrible, or unexpected, but I wasn’t crazy about it. I think the ‘what if’ hoarder in me could never take that leap. There were some brief love scenes that were fairly tame, and one small love scene between the sisters (which sounds more racy than it was).

Into the Forest

Jean Hegland. Dial Press Trade Paperback 1998, Paperback, 256 pages, $7.13